


Still hard

by Julibellule



Series: There is nothing we can do [1]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Alternate Canon, Bad Wolf Bay, Cooking, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, London, Multi, Near Death, Norway (Country), Pete's World (Doctor Who), Pete's World Torchwood, Post-Episode AU: s04e13 Journey's End, Suffering, canary warf, grieving feelings, tyler mansion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-02
Updated: 2020-04-12
Packaged: 2021-02-23 12:40:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23444944
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Julibellule/pseuds/Julibellule
Summary: It's hard for the Doctors and Rose to adjust to the slow path life in Pete's World
Relationships: Metacrisis Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler, Tenth Doctor/Metacrisis Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler, Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler
Series: There is nothing we can do [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1699063
Kudos: 9





	1. There is nothing we can do

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ten/Rose & Tentoo/Rose (T)  
>  **Rose finds a way to save Donna**  
>  _Trigger Warnings: Suffering (Donna), Near Death (Donna)_

The Doctor was reeling. Cursing and kicking the sand with the sole of his shoes. Throwing his hand in the air, pulling at his hair, and pacing around like a lion in a cage. Rose's earlier kiss totally forgotten. Rose was watching him, still not believing what had just happened. The part-human Doctor left in a huff with the Tardis, leaving her and her Doctor stuck in Pete's World.

This was not the outcome she wanted to happened when she kissed the Doctor. She felt her mother's hand set on her shoulder at the same time she heard it: The Tardis was coming back. The grinding sound almost deafening after those anguishing last moments. She ran towards it, they all did. But when the doors opened Rose couldn't believe what she was seeing.

The part-human Doctor was sitting in the doorway with Donna lying unconscious on his lap. His fingers were on her temple and streaks of tears were drying on his cheeks. He looked the Time Lord in the eye pleading: "I can't.. I can't help her. She is going to die."

"No she is not." The Doctor said passing over them, still infuriated. Rose and Jackie followed. "We are bringing her back." He started pulling levers and pushing buttons frantically then stopped and turned toward them. "Close the doors, will you?" Rose did as he asked and heard him curse wildly, hitting the console with the mallet. "Brilliant! The walls have already close, we are going nowhere."

A lump set in Rose's throat and she caressed Donna's hair, watching the part-human Doctor. "What happened to her?" Rose couldn't believe this was happening. She hadn't known Donna for long but she sure wasn't about to let her die. She just wouldn't. And while everyone was wallowing in despair and belief of impossibilities. Rose stood up and started pacing pensively.

"Time Lord metacrisis." He answered her, stifling a sob. "Her human brain was not meant to contain all that energy." Rose remembered the feeling. Suddenly, Donna woke up with a horrible shriek and everyone stepped back. She held her head in pain still screaming.

"Do something!!" Rose ordered toward the Time Lord.

"I can't!" He confessed. "I need to lock her memories away and prevent the metacrisis energy to spread through her mind, but it won't be any good if she doesn't wake up in Chiswick, with her family and her old life. The memories will resurface as soon as she suspects something's not as it should be."

Donna slumped back onto the part-human Doctor's lap and the silence following her screams was filled with grief and resignation. Rose's whispers broke the numbness. "There is nothing we can do.. and she is dying." Rose couldn't believe this was happening. She hadn't known Donna for long but she sure wasn't about to let her die. She just wouldn't. And while everyone was wallowing in despair and belief of impossibilities. Rose stood up and started pacing pensively. "Come on, we are not done yet, assets, assets." She muttered to herself. The Doctor approached but didn't disturb her slow path around the console. Rose noticed he was listening intently to her musing. "So we need something that could contain the Time Lord part in her..."

"Rose." The part-human Doctor was still in the doorway, cradling Donna's body. "Rose there is nothing that will work. There is nothing that could isolate such energy inside of her."

"That's it!" Rose jumped around, facing the Doctor in blue. "We can't contain it inside her, but we can take it out!" Rose turned to the Time Lord. "What about that thing. The helmet plugged to the Tardis that transformed you into a human and transferred your Time Lord bits in the pocket watch."

"The chameleon arch?" The Time Lord seemed to consider. Rose answered him with a nod.

"That could actually work." The part-human Doctor's smile reappeared. " _That_ is actually a brilliant idea!" He stood up, still holding Donna's limp body in his arms.

"Brilliant," the Time Lord jumped, exhilarated. He hit two buttons and lifted a switch, making a chair roll out from the Tardis' wall and the helmet attached to too many wires. It made the device look ancient, out of an old horror movie. Rose shivered. "Rose Tyler, you are brilliant!" The Time Lord continued. He trotted to her, grabbed her face with both his hands, and snogged her hastily before joining the part-human Doctor to help him strap Donna's body to the chair.

Rose surprised herself with a giggle, wondering if the Doctor's giddiness was contagious or if it was the kiss who left her hoping for more of it in the future. Both Doctors were working in unison as if they had done that their whole life - In a way, they actually did. "This is gonna work. This is brilliant." Rose heard one of her Doctor say.

"It will save her life but she won't remember anything." Said the Doctor in blue. "She won't be Donna Noble anymore." The Doctor in brown looked at him with a sad resignation in his eyes, then pulled the lever down. Donna's body went taunt and shook violently and after a long moment she started screaming.


	2. We can't move

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ten/Rose/Tentoo (K)  
>  **The Tardis breaks down, so does the Doctor**  
>  _Trigger Warnings: Grieving Feelings (Ten &Tentoo)_

"How did you know about the chameleon arch, Rose?" The Doctor in blue asked her as he helped the Time Lord put Donna's unconscious body on the grating.

"Pocket universe," Rose answered, crouching reverently beside Donna's body. She remembered vividly the time she granted her a tour of the Tardis when it was laying almost dead in one of UNIT's warehouse. She watched the Doctor in blue again. "Learned a lot of things about the Tardis while I was there. As well as some things that happened to you in the real time line.. the one where you didn't die."

Rose tried to put up a good front but failed totally. The Doctor's single heart went out for her. He could only see the surface of all the struggles she had to go through to get back to him and it pained him to see how much Rose had grown tough from the experience. He laid his hand on hers to comfort her, knowing only time and love would heal those wounds.

"Good! So," the Time Lord said from over the console. "Donna's new life is near London. She just got hired as a Nanny. Do you think she'll really be good with kids?"

"Of course she will, she's brilliant." The part-human answered.

"Ha!" The Time Lord exclaimed exuberantly. "And looks like Jackie Tyler is the one who just employed her."

"What?"

"Yeah, says so right here," he said pointing at the swirly and round language no one but the two Doctors could decipher. "You just got yourself a full time nanny for Tony."

"Tony doesn't need a nanny, I'm a stay at home mom!"

"Oh, well, I guess having Donna around, in the state she's in, could be a good thing." Rose said, getting back up. "Let's go then, the Tyler mansion it is!"

The Doctor twisted levers and punched buttons all the while keeping his eyes on Rose, a quirky smile on his lips. There was a sudden thud, and a lurch, and a loud bump, then everything went dark as they were all propelled to the floor. It smelled like burnt wires and smoke and Jackie was coughing loudly. "What the bloody hell?"

"Oh no! No no no no no!!" Both Doctor were at the console, each frantically trying different tactics to wake the Tardis up again, but nothing worked. They were dead in the water. As the Doctors were taking out the grating to get further under the console, Jackie went to the doors to see if they had moved at all.

"Oh, bloody hell, no!" Jackie came back in, furious, hands on her hips. "You move your ship right this instant, young man. What the hell did you think, landing it in my bedroom. How am I suppose to watch the telly with a 7 feet police box at the foot of my bed?" One of the Doctor's head, probably the one with one heart, came out from under the console.

"Jackie!? We can't move.."

"Mom!" Rose called out, interrupting the Doctor. "Mom! Help me out. She's waking up!" Jackie was still muttering when she grabbed Donna's feet and, with Rose's help, they brought her on Jackie's bed. "Mom. You have to pretend you just hired her. Don't ever tell her about who she really is, alright."

"I know!!" Jackie answered and muttered some more.

Donna's eyes opened and she sat straight on the bed. "Where am I? What happened?"

"Hey, sweetheart. Are you feeling better?" Rose said sweetly. Donna looked at her with a puzzled expression. "You're at the Tyler's you were here for the nanny interview." Rose paused and Donna's expression didn't change. "You applied to be my little brother's nanny?"

Donna's fake memories seemed to settle. "Yes, yes. Oh, my. I must've fainted. This is not good for the interview, is it?"

"Nonsense, Miss Noble," Jackie intervened, "we already agreed in hiring you. Come on, let me show you around and present you my Tony." Jackie brought Donna out of her bedroom and Rose sighed loudly. Rose came back in the console room to find both Doctors still bickering under the console. Her walk around the Tardis has been cut short when she found out most of the corridors ended drastically after a few feet.

The Tardis was in complete shut down. The only rooms remaining were her room, and three stock rooms filled with tools and machineries. "Rose," one of the Doctors called out to her. "If you need to get anything from your room, go get it now. We have to close it off to reroute as much power as we can to the main systems." Rose nodded and went to leave when he stopped her. "Wait!" He came out, mid body, from under the console, and she realised it was the metacrisis. He had his suit jacket off, wearing only the burgundy jumper with short sleeves and Rose's heart clenched; it must've been the first time she actually saw the Doctor's whole arm naked. "Give me the Joolyian spanner, the blue one with the screw on top. It's over there, by the jump-seat."

Rose opened the tool box laying on the bench and search through it.. wait did she see one of the tools move? She grabbed the spanner when she found it and closed the box as fast as she could. "I need some duck tape too." She heard the other Doctor call out from deep under the grating. She grabbed the roll, who actually had ducks on it, and imagined the bits of machineries under the grating, the Tardis' insides, filled with spots of tape with little yellow ducks.

She snorted. An hour and a half later, Rose finished bringing the last remaining boxes in her room in the mansion. She decided to move all her things since the Doctors weren't sure if the Tardis would ever be able to rebuild her old room the way it was. Rose didn't want to lose all the souvenirs she collected through her years of travels. She spent the rest of the afternoon and evening in the console room, helping the Doctors out as best she could and listening to their curses and bickering.

She was starting to nod off against one of the coral struts when the Doctor in blue came out from under the grating, rubbing his hands with a dirty rag. "You should go to bed, Rose. There is still a lot of work to do here and it's been a very long time since you last slept."

"'M not leaving you." She said stubbornly. She stretched and yawn and he smiled at her.

"'M ready for bed too. 'M knackered. I don't have the same stamina as I use too. Want me to join you?" Rose flushed. It happened before, on rare occasions, that the Doctor offered to stay with her until she fell asleep but his present offer was a lot more different than that. Was this what they were now? Two.. three person, sleeping together?

"'M not leaving him either." She was adamant. The Doctor in front of her crouched down and caressed her face as he tucked a stray hair behind her ear.

"He's not coming out of there for a very long while." He swallowed and Rose saw a dark shadow pass over his expression.

"Then I won't leave until morning either."

He smiled again. "Alright then, scootch!" He settled behind her, laying on his side, his back against the wall and he pulled her to him. She laid her head on his arm. She was spooning with the Doctor... Oh my God, she was spooning with the Doctor. She breathed. She grabbed the hand from the arm laying under her head and played with his fingers.

"Is she gonna be ok? The Tardis, will she fly again?" He's been working under the console for more than 8 straight hours now, surely he could give her a status report.

"No." He hugged Rose tighter against his body. "No, she won't. Don't tell him though. I don't think he wants to hear it. But the Tardis won't work in this universe, 's not the same energy. I don't think she'll fly until we get her back to the Prime Universe." A few hours later, the Time Lord needed to eat something and after many shocks to nudge him out from under the grating, he finally understood it was time for a break.

He wasn't prepare for the sight that awaited him in the console room. Both Rose and his counterpart had fallen asleep directly on the hard and cold grating, waiting for him. A wave of gratitude filled him and it was too much.. he crumbled to the ground. His head in his hands he sobbed silently. He knew he just lost his Tardis and the grief that came with it was more than he could bare.

He wasn't ready yet, he really wasn't. His marvellous ship.. No. This was not the end. There must be something else he could do. He would find a way. He rubbed is eyes and cheeks to wipe the tears away and when his head came back up, he saw the other Doctor looking at him with tears in his eyes. He knew how he felt. With a soft movement, so he would not wake a sleeping Rose, the Doctor in blue gesture for him to join them.

The Doctor in brown frowned, but still crawled towards them. He settled his back against Rose's stomach and she held him tight in her sleep. They both did. He snuggled further in the hug and breathed deep to keep the tears at bay. He wasn't alone anymore.


	3. You deserve it

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ten/Rose/Tentoo (K)  
>  **Ten is doing mischief for breakfast**

Rose woke up when the Doctor in blue hugged her close and kissed her on the ear giving her shivers all over. The Time Lord was gone. Was he even there to begin with? Maybe she dreamt about him sleeping in her arms. The part-human Doctor continued to hold her tight. He brushed some hair off her face and neck and kissed her there. Rose didn't dare to move.

The Doctor never kissed her before. Well.. not like that. "'M so sorry, Rose." Rose turned in his arms and his fingers continued their caress on her cheek.

"Why?"

"I never told you how much I love you." Rose breath caught in her throat. "I saw you kiss him and I got jealous, and stupid and it almost cost Donna's life and it.. killed the Tardis."

"Hey, no, stop this." Rose grabbed his face.

"I know he is not happy with me. I am not either.."

"I am!" Rose interrupt him. "I am happy with you. It's all that matters ok. We'll get through this ok. Like everything else. There is no need to point fingers, we just need to work towards a solution alright." The Doctor in blue nodded. "But, I think you should still answer the question again."

"Which question?"

"How was that sentence going to end?" The part-human Doctor smiled and caressed her cheek. He kissed her forehead, her nose, then his lips were against hers and Rose hugged him, pulled him against her body to feel his weight and his warmth.

"Rose Tyler," he broke the kiss for a second before plunging back in. "I love you." He whispered between her lips.

*

The Time Lord was nowhere to be seen and after searching the Tardis, and her room, Rose gave up. "Do you think he ran off?" Rose ask the Doctor in blue. She was really worried. He could've been so upset about yesterday that he'd just left all of them here. Rose felt suddenly very guilty for kissing the part-human Doctor while the Time Lord could've been angry and hurt and alone and stuck somewhere else in the world.

She resigned herself to go get something to eat and start searching for him right after. But when they got to the kitchen, there he was.. with Tony. The boy and him covered with flour and jam, he was flipping pancakes. "Noooo Rose. It was a surprise. Go back to sleep." Her brother demanded.

"You're making pancakes for breakfast?" It was the first time Rose had seen her Doctor cook anything.

"Indeed I am. Domestics! I gotta get use to them! Sit down, they are almost ready." As he put the plates on the tables he asked. "What do you want to do today, Rose?"

"Me? I dont know. I.. why?" He sat down.

"Whatever you want. 'M up for it. You spent the whole day yesterday by our side while we tended the Tardis. And before that you spent years jumping through universes to try and find me. I think you deserve it. Whatever you want."

"Well how about getting the Tardis to move out of my room for one?" Jackie just entered the kitchen. "Oh my God! What have you done to my kitchen?!"


	4. Still hard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ten/Rose/Tentoo (K)  
>  **It's hard for the Doctors and Rose to adjust to the slow path life in Pete's World**  
> 

The Doctor in blue, who wasn't in blue any more, was pulling on Rose's little finger impatiently. "Rose." She heard him whisper but pretended she didn't hear him. She tried to concentrate on Pete's speech and she'll be damn if she'd miss her good friend's retirement ovation. Marcus has been there for her when everything seemed bleak and he was the one who helped her the most with the research and the building of the canon that got her back to her Doctors.

They had been in Pete's World for a week now. The Tardis still didn't work and they pretty much accepted that she would not work as long as they find a way back to their universe. They had decided to start working for Torchwood and in the meantime, use its resources for their own little project with their Tardis. Tonight was an important evening for Rose.

Both her Doctors and herself put on their best clothes to celebrate the beginning of Marcus' retirement. Rose was adamant that they behave for Marcus' sake.. and her own. "Rose," he repeated and she jumped when his hand landed on her naked knee, fingers drawing swirly patterns in her inner thigh. Her breath caught and she held the sides of her chair tighter.

God, he would make her melt on the spot. He knew how to get her attention, didn't he? She turned to him, eyebrow raised, doing her best to hide the effect he had on her. "What?" She whispered back. He just nodded toward the chair beside him, the chair where the other Doctor should've been. Oh no. "Where the hell is he?"

The part-human doctor shrugged. "He just got up and left. Didn't you notice?"

Rose shook her head. "I'll be a horrible mother." She said, alarmed, and the Doctor beside her snorted. "Come on." She grabbed the hand on her thigh and got up. He followed her and Rose shivered when he laid his hand on the small of her back to guide her through the exit. They walked for a while, opening doors and asking around but they couldn't find him. The Doctor stood by her side, never letting go of her hand. "I really hope he isn't doing anything stupid." Rose growled.

"Rose," the Doctor said. "It's not an easy place for him to be. For me either. I know this Torchwood is different and I know you trust them. But it's still hard for us."

Rose pushed on the door leading to a lower level. "I know. It wasn't easy for me when I came here either." The conference room was on the top floor so they made their way down a few levels, searching from room to room, until they got to an abandoned floor that Rose knew way too well. They all knew it too well. "Oh no. Do you think..?" she pushed the door that led to the level where the rift between universes had open years ago, letting Cybermen into the other universe while slowly destroying Pete's World.

That white wall that still bore the memories of this crack to the void that pulled her in and kept them separated for so long. The hand holding hers tightened when the Doctor beside her realised where they were. She guided him through the small maze of empty offices and abandoned workstations until they got to the main room. The Doctor, still in brown pinstripes, seemed tiny against the massive white wall.

Rose almost cried out from the rush of memories that came with the sight of him, in this very room. He was sitting, legs sprawled in front of him, the back of his head lolling against the wall. His eyes were closed and they could clearly see the trails of tears drying on his cheeks. He held the red and blue 3D glasses loosely in his right hand. Rose's heart swelled and she went to him, sat beside him and took his hand.

Her heart swelled even more when she saw the other Doctor do the same on his other side. They both laid their head on each of his shoulders. They will always be there for each other. Nothing would keep them apart any more. "I didn't think it would hit so hard." The Doctor beside her said. "Being in this place again. Do you really think it's a good idea to work for them?"

Rose tilted her head to look at him. She wasn’t sure of the right thing to say. She didn't really care if they worked for Torchwood or not any more. The important thing was that they stayed together. But working for Torchwood would get them closer to certain technologies that might be good for the Tardis. She opened her mouth to answer him, but the part-human Doctor bested her to it. "I think working here would be a good thing. Stay in the thick of things. We need it. To grow.. ourselves as well as the Tardis." He cleared his throat and shifted his body to sit facing the Time Lord, still holding his hand. "Our worse memories haunts this tower but we could build new ones, good ones. I think Pete’s done a good job at building his team from the ground up and the root idea that created this Torchwood is a lot different from the one in our universe."

The other Doctor snorted derisively. He then rubbed his face in his hands. "It's just, so hard without the Tardis.." A rush of emotions stopped him from finishing his sentence so he only tapped his index finger a few time over his right temple to bring his point. Within second, his counterpart was cupping his cheek and grabbing his lips between his. He knew what the Time Lord was feeling, the emptiness, the hurt of losing the song of the Tardis on his soul.

The part-human Doctor was lucky that his own mind didn't wired for telepathy when he it was created. He didn't need a connection as bad as the Time Lord did. He moved closer the his body to deepen the kiss. And time stood still, even Rose held her breath. She never thought she’d get to see this, and it was beautiful. It took a few moments before the Time Lord moved. He was as shell shocked as Rose was.

But then he did move and opened up to the man comforting him, grabbing him possessively and pulling him across his lap. The part-human moaned and settled, a leg on each side of the other Doctor's hips. "Let's create new memories." The Time Lord said against his lips. "Right here, at this same place where we lost everything. At this very place that tore us apart, broke us. Let's mend it all and create something new."

Rose slithered to the both of them and murmured, "Together." The Doctor in brown pinstripes smiled at both of them, then pulled Rose to his lips in a soft, open mouthed kiss. "I love you." She told him.

"Come here." The part-human Doctor pulled her in front of him, over the Time Lord's lap, and they all hugged, snuggled in a tight ball.

**Author's Note:**

> The End (;
> 
> * * *
> 
> This story is from my bigger Interractive Journey's End project where you can choose your own adventure. You can start your journey and choose the Doctor and Rose's fate by clicking [RIGHT HERE](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18778384/chapters/44550334)
> 
> Thanks for encouraging me with comments and kudos. You are awesome!


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